The Real You?
by SumRandomPerson12
Summary: Serena finally get the news back on how she placed in the International Rhyhorn Race finals and its pleased with what she got. However, her mother thinks otherwise. What happens when Serena finally snaps form all the insults? (JeT'aimeShipping/KalosShipping (Calem x Serena))


_'Briiing, briiiing! Briiiing, briiiing!'_  
Serena's eyes snapped open at the all too familiar sound coming from her Holo Caster, a wave of small pain shooting though her head. Peeling herself off of her desk groggily the honey-haired woman stared at the gadget briefly before snatching it up in her hands and pressing the small button in the centre. A blush came over the girl's face before you could say 'Dedenne' at the sight of the person being projected, resulting in Serena turning the device around so that the person was pointed away from her where they couldn't see said girl.

_"Hello?"_ A young man's voice that was not deep but had obviously gone through changes called out, his head turning as if he was searching for the girl. _"Serena, are you there? I can't see you..."_  
"_No_, idiot, I answered your stupid call which interrupted my sleep because I'm not here." She replied lowly, cringing as Calem tried to laugh away the sarcastic reply nervously.  
_"Right, I guess that sounded a little dumb, huh?"_ The brunette male's hand gripped the strap of his bag and, although Serena was 'behind' him she could see him take in a shaky breath. _"You must still be asleep because I can't see you. I thought the whole idea of having one of these was to see the person you're talking to."_  
"Yeah, well, you're not going to see my face right now unless you want to see a human Feebas."  
_"I doubt you look like that right now. Besides, you know that Feebas eventual-"_  
"Shut up."  
_"R-Right. I'm sorry; you probably don't want to talk so I'll get to the point."_  
Serena felt a small pang in the centre of her chest at the boy's words. Calem shifted on the spot slightly before holding up a small piece of paper and scanning through it.

_"You remember when you were in the International Rhyhorn Race Final a few days ago and they thought it was a tie between you, a boy, a man and that old woman so they said they'd post the results to us so you gave them my address?"_  
Serena gulped slightly after taking the improper sentence in completely. "Y-Yeah...?"  
_"Well, I got it back today and it turns out you were, literally, the end of a horn away from coming first. Had that old man's Rhyhorn not have had such an unusually large horn then you would have come first."_  
The honey-haired girl's mouth initially dropped at Calem's words. "So...So I came second?" She asked, her voice squeaking from the excitement threatening to burst through her façade. The boy's head turned slightly so that way she could just make out the corner of his eye and the sad smile breaking out onto his face.  
"Yeah. But, I mean, there's always next year- right?"  
The girl's grey-eyes widened slightly as a large smile broke out onto her face however, she remained silent for the most part; only allowing a small set of giggles through.

_"...Are you smiling, Serena?"_ The male brunette questioned seriously, making the girl remember what she was doing. _"I haven't seen you smile before, but I think you'd have a really nice smile. As lame and cheesy as it sounds."_  
Serena quickly bought the Holo Caster back to her face and scowled at Calem, causing him to flinch. _"W-Well that's a **very** nice smile you have there, voisin."_  
"I don't do smiles."  
_"Well, maybe your face doesn't smile but yours eyes do. You know, they look better in their natural colour than in those stupid gold contacts. They're...A-Ah, just forget what I said."_  
And, with that, the hologram of Calem faded. Serena finally let the smile back onto her face quickly, happiness bubbling up inside of her. She had come second in one of the most demanding races there was for Rhyhorn racers; her mother _had_ to be proud of her now.  
With those thoughts in mind Serena quickly slipped out of her pyjamas- changing into a pair of ripped denim shorts, an exotic orange top that she bought from Laverre City and her pair of white knee-length socks- and ran down the stairs of her house.

"Maman! Maman!" She called out frantically, the thumping of her sock-covered feet hitting the next step echoing throughout the hall. "I've got some news!"  
Grace, the young woman's mother, remained unmoving from her spot on the sofa and replied with a short and annoyed grunt. "What."  
The girl skidded across the wooden floor all the way to the large sofa and leant on the back, a cushion away from the champion racer herself, and grinned.

"Guess what, Maman?!"

"You remember that international race I entered the other day? The one that you said you wouldn't go to so I had to take Ca- I mean our neighbour to? Well, I kind of-"  
"Did you win?" Grace interrupted a bit too quickly, a hint of hope in the older woman's voice. Serena shrunk down a little, her legs bending down slightly.

"Well, uh..."  
"You _did_ come first, right?" She asked once more, a dark aura surrounding the woman in an instant which caused goose bumps to form on her daughter's skin.  
"N-No." The aura became more suffocating. "..._No?_"  
"B-But I came second! Apparently it was really close too; it wasn't even a horn's difference! I swear I did my best, Mama-" "_Grace._"  
"R-Right, Grace, I swear I did my best! Like, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow!"  
"Well then I'm not expecting a sunrise tomorrow." The woman started, standing up from her spot and turning to face Serena. The teenage girl gulped once more, the same sickening feeling sneaking its way into her system that told her that she was either going to have to sit through- or stand in her case- another one of her mother's lectures or run off; the last one seeming almost impossible as an outcome.

"Serena. I gave life to you, I raised you when I- your father left us, I trained you to become a racer and all I ask is that you make me proud! Yet all you've done in your pathetic career is disappoint me!" Grace scoffed, placing her hands on her hips firmly. "Second place! That's as good as last! No-one remembers second place! You could've won! You could've trained for all of this but _no_, you had to run off with that group of defective teenager that you don't even know to _'go on a journey where I can find myself'_! You're a waste of space; a thorn in my side ever since you were small!"  
Hot tears started to pool up in Serena's eyes as the insults kept on pouring out of the older woman's mouth, stabbing her daughter like knives. Having a gut-full of her mother Serena finally clenched her fists tightly before taking a deep breath.

"Are you...are you not proud of me?!" She screamed, feeling the tears run down her cheeks much against her will as she looked her mother in the eyes. Grace flinched at her behaviour before glaring acidly at the honey-haired teenager.  
"Of course I'm not! How could I be proud of a mistake like you?!" She screamed back loudly. Serena looked down slowly, the tears now falling from her cheeks to the floor.  
"Hahaha...so I'm a mistake, huh?"  
"S-Serena, wait!" However, as the mother called out for her daughter she was already out of the door in a confused and sorrowful mess.

-

The girl ran down the street, her feet feeling numb but tired, and came to a fast halt at the entrance of the blues gates leading out of Vaniville Town. Serena blinked back the new tears that materialised and placed her hands firmly on each of the large wooden gates before moving all of her weight forward in order to push the exit open. Beads of sweat soon started to run down her face that was red in patches thanks to her unintentional crying and her hands grew shaky form the amount of force she was putting into this. Slowly, extremely slowly, the gates started to part however it was not yet big enough for her to slip away through.  
As Serena let out a groan of frustration and those same tears ran down her face, a pair of footsteps came, too, racing don the path that she had taken off on mere minutes ago.

"Serena!" Someone yelled, their voice becoming slightly louder which indicated them coming closer. "H-Hey! Are you okay?!"  
The honey-haired girl ignored the voice of her neighbour and bit her lip in order to supress the sobs and screams that wanted to escape the confines of her throat so desperately. The footsteps, though they had come down in both speed and volume, could be heard by Serena as they approached her while she was still trying to push the gates open.

"Serena..." Calem trailed, gently placing a hand on the grey-eyed girl's shoulder in a small attempt to comfort her. However, her response was one that he hadn't of hoped for. Serena released the grip her teeth had on her bottom lip, letting a small, spluttering cough loose.

"G-Go away..!" She screeched as a loud sob finally voiced itself and her hands shook even more violently. Taking her hands off of the gates the girl pushed Calem's hand away before eyeing the gap intently.

"Sere-"  
"What do you want?!" Serena clenched her fists and shut her eyes tightly. "Can't you see that I don't want to be near anyone?!"  
Calem, despite the girl's yelling, walked over to the side of the honey-haired female, bending over so that his face was close but visible to her and gave her a warm but small smile.  
"I know," He said, following the girl as she tried to move away from him. "But I want to know what's wrong; I heard yelling from your house and I got worried."  
Serena stared at her neighbour, looking him right in the eyes, and forced herself to speak without yelling- which was much easier than she thought.

"I'm just going for a walk." She stated, looking at the blue gates once more. "There's nothing wrong."  
Calem widened his smile and stood up beside the girl. "Then I'm sure you wouldn't mind me going with you then?"  
Serena remained silent as the boy walked over to a small shrub and dug around in the foliage.

"You know, this gate open with a button; you don't need to push the doors." He explained, letting out a small set of chuckles. "But, I mean, you haven't lived here long enough to know that so of course you wouldn't know."  
The male brunette waited alongside the girl as the door open, a nostalgic feeling taking over his being as it came to a halt. Trying to hide the blush that threatened to appear on his face, Calem wrapped his arm around Serena's and tugged forward slightly; earning himself a somewhat melancholic stare from the girl.

"Come on." He said, becoming shocked when the girl didn't bite back or tug her arm away and yell. Instead, Serena walked alongside the boy with a light blush on her face- which was hidden by the red patchiness- and her head looking down at the ground.

-

"So," Calem began, looking at his neighbour from the side. "You want to sit down and tell me what's wrong?"  
Serena remained silent, making the male brunette move away from the path and onto the grassy area next to said dirt path. He let go of the girl's arm and sat cross-legged on the green terrain, looking up at her with curiosity.

"Come on, we've been through tonnes together. Don't tell me that you won't close up at the world almost ending and media attention but you will over some verbal fight?"  
That's all the girl needed to hear before she sat down in front of the boy, about two rulers' length apart.

"So what happened?" He questioned, still keeping his focus on the girl. Serena gripped the grass with her hands, pulling out a few blades in the process.  
"Mam- Grace."  
"What about her?"  
"The race."  
Calem sighed lightly, resting his chin on his hands. "Serena, of you're going to tell me what's happened I need you to be alive. So what happened with Grace and the race?"  
"She wasn't happy." Serena stated, causing Calem to freeze up instantly. "Oh."  
"She yelled, called me disappointment for coming second," Serena mumbled, not looking up at her friend. "I...I'm not a mistake am I?"  
Calem let his arms fall back down limply and straightened up, blinking a few times.

"Serena, you know you aren't. Why would you ask..." Serena looked up at the male brunette with a despondent look, making the boy's eyes widen a little before looking back down. Calem moved closer to the girl and around so that he was sitting on his knees, placing his hands on the honey-haired girl's shoulders. Serena looked up at the male with her usual emotionless look, making the boy smile at her once more.

"Your eyes are sad," He stated gently, causing the girl to frown. "So I know you must be sad too, even if you say you aren't."  
Before the girl could reply back Calem pulled the girl into him in a comforting hug, moving one arm down to her back and the other to the back of her head and stared off the distance. Slowly the boy started to unconsciously play with Serena's hair as the girl started to quiver uncontrollably.

"Why are you shaking?" Calem asked quietly, a wide smile adorning his features a he felt the girl place her head on his shoulder. In response, or what he thought it was, the girl let out a sob and shakily bought her arms up to tightly return the hug.  
The male brunette let the blush appear on his face as he stroked the grey-eyed female's hair in a soothing manner.  
"You know, I think the real you is much better than that cold mask and I'll continue to break your façade if it means that you can be yourself."


End file.
